This is broken up into 4 parts and to make this a useful article, I am asking the creative community to participate as much as possible to gain insight into the applications/process you use and/or even worth paying for. Your answers don’t have to be long just concise. Of course I will weigh in with what I use (in the comments below).

The first 2 parts received detailed responses with some very helpful information. I hope you’ll continue to weigh in with parts 3-4!

a. Which tool do you use (if any) to collaborate on projects?
b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other?

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a. Which tool do you use (if any) to collaborate on projects?
Basecamp for some, activeCollab for others.

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
ProofHQ and ReviewBasics for design work, and recently started to use GetSignoff. For content, there is nothing better than Jumpchart. My favorite collaboration tool, hands down.

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
Each client gets 2 rounds of revisions, after which they sign an approval document. If they need more revisions, they are charged on an hourly basis.

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
I don’t really have a problem using these tools, but some clients do, and I think that’s the biggest problem. Since these tools all require collaboration with clients, they should take into consideration less computer-savvy people who may have trouble using these tools.

Another problem is that most of these (except activeCollab) are hosted on the provider’s servers and not on my own. So if you want to make some minor tweaks to the app, you can’t. You are at the mercy of the tool’s creators.

e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other?
Would be cool if uploading a design to Basecamp (or activeCollab) and designating it as a “proof” (or putting it in the “Proof” category) would immediately port it to a proofing tool like ProofHQ, ReviewBasics, or GetSignoff. That way the client won’t have to leave a familiar to them interface and won’t have to remember any extra logins. As much as I love Jumpchart and their interface, I’d like for the clients to be able to access it through a project management interface (BC or aC, again). I don’t know if this would be possible, but would be nice if when changes are made on Jumpchart or a proofing tool of choice, the updates would be displayed in the activity stream on Basecamp, so everything is in one place. One can dream, eh?

a. Which tool do you use (if any) to collaborate on projects?
As a book designer/page comp-layout artist, I don’t generally collaborate in the sense that I am working on the same files as other artists. The couple of times that I worked on a book that others were also laying out, we collaborated only in the sense that we exchanged info about how the template was functioning for each of us.

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
Email and commented PDFs that get emailed back and forth

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
Emailed PDFs of the work

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
None

e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other?
NA

@Jonesy – Yes, I’m aware of this and I use that feature. But it doesn’t actually “integrate” into Basecamp. They just give you some iframe html code to put in a message so the client can go straight to ProofHQ when they try to add a comment.

It’s pretty convenient, but still involves you uploading your files to ProofHQ first, which I’m not a fan of. Since our business is run through Basecamp, we have to upload files to Basecamp first, and if it’s a proof, then ProofHQ as well. So it’s two files in two different places, twice as much work.

I’d rather put files on Basecamp and designate them as “proofs” and them *magically* being available for proofing :) I know it’s a stretch, but…

Vera – gotcha. For my projects I have mainly been using home based solutions created by myself (access, excel, etc.). I haven’t really given any of the web based solutions a try yet. This series has peeked my interest immensely so I think for my next project I will try a few of them out and see how they work. Thanks for the heads up on the Basecamp/ProofHQ stuff. Have you tossed your ideas to either of those companies? What your asking for seems quite reasonable.

@Jonesy you should really give these a try, they’ll save you *a lot* of time! Didn’t write to either of the companies *yet* lol. I just came up with that idea as I was answering Adelle’s last question, actually.

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
We are a web development agency, so we have our own internal servers for staging web sites and handling the proofing process.

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
Staging servers and email.

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
Email is limiting in that there really isn’t a way for clients to “sign off” on a site. And the nature of web development means the site is always changing, so what they approved one day will be different the next.

For some small cases, I found RememberTheMilk quite useful too, specially for organizing tasks and projects, and can be shared across gmail accounts, but for now me an my team in Indiviso use Google Calendar to organize events, so far we didnt have the need to use a special tool for managing and approval :)

a. Which tool do you use (if any) to collaborate on projects?
I am testing out http://mindmeister.com to collaborate on a project right now.

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
Usually email/sending PDF’s, but am testing Get Sign Up & loving the feedback / markup feature on http://getbackboard.com

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
Basecamp or Email

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
Need more integration with all my apps – currently I use too many & I need to get better about using the same exact process for EVERY client no matter how big or small the company is.

e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other?
Basecamp & Backboard

I’m not sure I’m a good candidate for these questions. But i love this site and will subscribe! I’m kind of old school when it comes to communicating. Most of my clients are local and I prefer face to face. I’m intrigued to read about all of the software on these pages however and will look them up to learn more.

a. Which tool do you use (if any) to collaborate on projects?
I’ve thought about looking at Google and email. However if it’s sensitive, I prefer face to face, and then I use code words in emails. Paranoid? Yes. But the stuff I’m working on is huge!

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?
I’m really old school…faxes or emails. I’m not designing a lot full time, but I’m managing businesses with critical info. Face to Face makes most sense right now.

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?
Fax usually

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
Realizing if there’s a safe, secure way to do it online, I’ll jump on board.

e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other? Since I don’t have current use of these apps, my answer is NA

We would LOVE to have Basecamp provide a way to send files out from their file tab to ProofHQ. However, they seem to be fairly firm on only allowing companies to integrate inbound to them.

Based on your comments we made a number of changes:
1. We automatically push the Miniproof into a message in Basecamp.
2. We now put all comments/replies from the proof in Basecamp.
3. We have single sign-on from the Miniproof in Basecamp to proofHQ and back again, sos everything is seamless for the client.

b. What do you use for managing the proofing (feedback) process and edits?

Google docs does a good job at this. Comments can be color coded.

c. What process or tool do you use to get approval on projects?

Doing mood boards can help early on. They can be quick to make
and get the client inspired. As well they shape the direction and thought process for the project as well as involve the client in the creative process early on and get a sense of their tastes.

d. What problems do you face in using your current processes?
Dang good question. Can vary on the client and job. Thankfully, problems have been few and far between. Though yes, it’s good to find them so we can learn from them. Hence, the importance of keeping a business journal.

e. Which tools / apps do you wish would communicate with each other?
I’d like more integration between apple apps and google apps. It’s getting better and generally is ok, but still could be improved.